Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Studio Help - Cut Ribbon Storage

I LOVE Ribbon!

Almost as much as I love fabric...but cut ribbon pieces can be a nightmare to store and manage!

I use the cut ribbon pieces for so many things...packaging an order, grouping supplies, labeling items, protecting items in transport, pulling my hair back in my office when I don't have anything else around! It is a smart way to utilize surplus ribbon...too pretty to discard and sometimes at the art store they will even sell a full bag of assorted cut ribbon lengths for $1 to get rid of extra inventory.

A few years ago while surfing online for clever ideas on how to store ribbon...I stumbled on a really useful idea. I don't remember where I found it - so I apologise in advance for that!

Just know it wasn't my idea to begin with...but I did tweak it a bit!

What they did was use a wire hanger (like you get from the dry cleaners) and loop the the lengths of ribbon through the wire like the picture above. The strands of ribbon slide together and hang so that you can always see what you have available!

I think the best part is that you can easily remove or add new lengths one at a time without disturbing the others! No more tangles, creased ribbon...or forgetting what you have.

I hung the hangers on a hook on the back of my door.

Now my newest twist was to buy a multi level hanger...typically used for several pair of pants. This way I was able to have five rungs to hang from in a smaller amount of space! The hanger is coated so it protects more delicate ribbons. I recommend that if you have ribbon that creases easily...loop it very loosely and don't pull it taught.

It is pretty and functional...I actually moved it from behind the door to a wall hook near my desk because I love seeing my colorful ribbons!

No comments: